Assignment #1- Assumptions about Feminism and Art

Lia Melikian
2/14/08
Section 0101

For this assignment, we were asked to travel to Washington D.C. and visit four different museums and critically analyze and discuss what we saw and how it does or does not relate to feminism. I went and saw the National Museum of Women and the Arts, the National Museum of the American Indian, the National Gallery of Art, as well as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. All of these museums were unique in their own way and it was interesting to see them all and have this chance to compare and contrast them.

The first museum that I attended was the National Museum of the Women and the Arts and I soon realized that I had many preconceived notions about what it was going to be like. To be frank, I definitely assumed that I was going to dread the visit and that I would be severely disinterested in anything the museum had to offer me. However, upon arrival I recalled what Professor King had said about being surprised about the amount of pink in the building and as I looked around I noticed very beautiful chandeliers and I was kind of surprised that something so elegant was in a museum. I also noticed the floors were made of marble and the architecture of the building was very classic and beautiful. I realized that the underlying assumption was that I did not expect to see elegance and such sophisticated design in a women’s museum. I expected it to be more plain and simple rather than intricate and detailed. When I was arriving they were also setting up tables with eloquent table clothes for some sort of event that was going to occur there. I also assumed that not very many people would be interested enough in a women’s museum to go there let alone have an event there. At first, when I looked at the paintings around me, they seemed kind of uninteresting which led me to believe that the rest of the museum was going to be dull. When I moved on to the temporary exhibit by Paul Rego I began to change my mind. I was actually shocked to see some of her paintings, and how gloomy and perverse the images that she was portraying were. This kind of art was very unexpected because I had assumed that women would make a certain kind of art, one that was more happy and attractive. Since emotion-filled and dark art is the kind of art I enjoy the most, I found myself becoming very interested in the exhibit. There were a lot of strange images with figures sitting in chairs and with other figures around them. One room in particular struck me because it was filled with images of women giving themselves abortions. In the description it said that she drew them as schoolchildren to emphasize their vulnerability and that she was trying to hit on the issue of legalizing abortion because poor women had to go through the awful process at home because they could not afford to travel to other areas to have the procedure done. In one of the paintings, the anguish in the women’s face was so evident it really imprinted itself into my mind and truly made me think about the politics behind the issue. I think this part of the exhibit was very feminist because it hit on an issue that is very central to women no matter what race or ethnicity they happen to be. I feel that what makes something truly feminist is if it touches on political or social issues that are prominent in the everyday lives of women everywhere. I was very fond of the temporary exhibit but I did not find the permanent one quite as interesting. I think this was because none of the art was as shocking as that of the temporary exhibit. As a whole the museum was not feminist because not all of the art work made some sort of statement, but a fair amount of the pieces did.

At the National Museum of the American Indian and when I was approaching the building I was very amazed by the exterior design and the actual size. I assumed that the museum would be much smaller and under funded. When I got inside, I thought it was interesting that there was a performance area and that the building was so open. While walking around I noticed the unique design of the whole building. Everything seemed so authentic, even the drawings on and inside the elevators. While walking through the different exhibits I noticed that they weren’t specifically catered to women, but there was mention of women as prominent members of the tribe. The Identity by Design exhibit, however, was more catered toward women and was a showing of the Native women’s dresses which were very beautiful and filled with color. The Identity by Design exhibit could be considered feminist because it was a showing of women’s attire and how that attire was an expression of their culture. On the other hand, I do not think that it touch upon any specific issues that women deal with all over the world. While both arguments can be made, I feel as though the exhibit was somewhere in the middle because it was partially feminist but not entirely.

The next museum I visited was the National Gallery of Art which was also surprisingly large consisting of two separate buildings. There were many different kinds of exhibits which was very appealing. The more modern art was really interesting because I found myself questioning a lot of the pieces and wondering if it was, in actuality, considered art. A lot of the pieces were very intriguing and I found myself very interested in the paintings more so than anything else. While I had a great appreciation for the modern exhibit, when we moved on to the Renaissance and older pieces that’s when I found a lot of work that I honestly love, such as Rembrandt. What was thought-provoking about the Renaissance paintings was that they portrayed women in a very positive light, and almost every painting was of a woman or a baby as an angel. I consider this part of the exhibition to be feminist because I feel as though it draws people’s attention to a time period in which women were far more appreciated than they are now. This can help draw attention to the social issue of women being unequal in today’s society and show how times have changed.

The final museum I went to was the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. My initial thoughts were that this visit would be depressing and tedious. When we arrived and went to the permanent exhibit I was surprised at how well set up the entire showing was. There was a short clip on the elevator and once you left the elevator it was a bunch of different displays with different categories. Some of the historical objects that they had were extremely striking because it really made you realize just how many people were killed. For instance, there was a blown up picture of a pile of hair and the statistics stated that they had some thousand pounds of hair from the victims. I did not notice anything particularly feminine about this museum or the display but the atrocities occurred to a wide array of people so women were clearly affected by this.

At first I was unhappy with this assignment because it seemed rather time consuming. Even though it was, I was glad that it forced me to take the time out of my busy life to actually go to a museum and appreciate what it has to offer me. I think this was an overall positive experience because it really made me look within myself and realize what stereotypes I had engrained into my brain and how I came about having them. The museums had various feminine aspects to it and some of the exhibits were clearly feminist while some had subtle undertones of feminism incorporated within them. Before these visits, I thought that feminists were just an extremist group who thought that women should have equal rights to men. I soon came to the realization that feminism wasn’t just about equality to men, but it is also about women’s rights on social and political issues such as abortion. It showed me how assumptions and stereotypes usually stem from being uneducated on an issue or a group of people, and the importance of actually becoming educated in order to fully comprehend the topic at hand. Overall, I am very thankful for this assignment because it gave me a new understanding of the meaning of feminism and it opened my eyes to the fact that it can make a remarkable statement about the issues that are important not only my own life, but the lives of women all around the world.



List of Assumptions

I assumed that the Nationals Museum of Women and the Arts would have art that consisted of happy and girly things such as flowers
I assumed that a women’s museum would be dull and stereotypical
I assumed that the decorations of the building would be very plain and conservative
I assumed that not a lot of people would be there, especially males
I assumed that the National Museum of the American Indian would be much smaller and far more under funded
I assumed that there wouldn’t be any emphasis on feminism of women in the American Indian Museum
I assumed that the American Indian exhibits were going to be strictly historical
I assumed that the National Gallery of Art was only going to contain paintings and sculptures that were more mainstream rather than modern art
I assumed that I wouldn’t question whether or not any of the art work in the National Art Gallery was in fact art
I assumed that the Holocaust Museum was going to be very depressing and that it was just going to be historical occurrences written down and on display